Redford quits as police probe of expenses looms

Hours after Albertans learned that their former premier, Alison Redford, had resigned her seat in the provincial legislature, her successor said he plans to ask the RCMP to investigate Redford’s travel expenses.

Interim Premier Dave Hancock said Wednesday he will call in the RCMP to investigate Redford’s travel expenses following the release of a report by the auditor general, set to be made public Thursday.

“Based on what I have read in the report, and after seeking legal advice, as soon as the report is publicly available tomorrow I will be directing the minister of Justice and Solicitor General to refer this matter to the RCMP for their review and any investigations that they could consider appropriate,” he said.

“I think that is the prudent thing to do in a circumstance of this nature,” Hancock told reporters in a teleconference Wednesday afternoon.

“The report identified a number of areas of concern and I think in the interest of completeness and in the interest of the public being fully satisfied that everything appropriate has been done, that it is appropriate to ask that certain issues in the report be investigated.”

A lawyer by trade, Hancock refused to comment on the legal concerns that might be raised in the RCMP investigation. The report, he said, is the auditor general’s report and has not been made public. It wouldn’t be right to comment on it until after it had been released, he added.

News of the pending RCMP investigation came just hours after Redford relinquished her seat in the provincial legislature through an opinion piece published in both the Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Herald.

“I am stepping down immediately as MLA for Calgary-Elbow to start the next chapter of my life, teaching and resuming work in international development and public policy,” Redford wrote, adding she and her family will continue living in Alberta.

A draft of the auditor general’s report — which was leaked to the CBC — accuses staff in her office of fixing passenger lists so that the premier could travel on a government jet alone.

Despite the call for a police probe, Hancock took a moment to applaud Redford on her decision to resign, calling it an “honourable thing to do.”

“Leadership is always a difficult thing and all of us who have been involved in the political process know that it never can be about you as an individual,” he explained. “It must always be about what we’re doing as a government for Alberta, for our children and our grandchildren.

“And, when the individual becomes the issue a good leader takes themselves out and that’s what Alison Redford did in March when she resigned as premier. That’s exactly what she’s done today.”

Redford’s departure from provincial politics also came just hours after Thomas Lukaszuk — one of the party’s leadership candidates and deputy premier in Redford’s cabinet — requested an emergency caucus meeting to discuss Redford’s future in both the party and the Tory caucus.

Her resignation seemed to appease Lukaszuk. “It’s a new chapter for Alberta. I wish everyone involved all the best on future journeys. Now is time to focus on tomorrow in Alberta,” Lukaszuk said on Twitter.

In a Facebook post, party leadership frontrunner Jim Prentice said the 49-year old lawyer had done “the right and honourable thing today by resigning as a Member of the Legislative Assembly.”

“I would like to extend my best wishes to Ms. Redford and her family in their future endeavours,” Prentice wrote before insisting “now is the time to move forward.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Edmonton-Riverview MLA Steve Young, who said the Redford scandal had become “a distraction.”

“I think it’s the right decision. I think it was the right decision for her to resign as premier and I think it was the right decision she made to resign as an MLA,” he told iPolitics. “We should be talking about the vision of the province, public policy, and where Alberta is going, not where’s it’s been.”

Meanwhile, the president of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party said Alison Redford paid a personal and political price for her mistakes.

Jim McCormick said he has mixed feelings about Redford’s resignation as MLA for Calgary-Elbow. Her premiership, he said, started out with such promise but “her own personal choices” led to her demise.

Redford’s sudden exit came after months of public criticism and party infighting over the former leader’s spending and use of government planes.

A $45,000 tab for a trip to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral last December angered her political colleagues and Albertans so much she was forced to resign as premier and leader of the Progressive Conservatives on March 19. Redford would eventually repay the cost of the trip.

She later infuriated Albertans by disappearing from the legislative chamber and refusing to attend daily sittings for more than a month — while still collecting her salary. Redford eventually would return to her seat as a backbencher in the provincial legislature May 5.

It wasn’t the first time her expenses had been called into question.

Back in October 2012, Redford’s bank book was scrutinized after government records showed the Tories had spent more than $500,000 to send a controversial delegation to the London Olympics. The bill, the records showed, included a $114,000 booking fee for hotel rooms that were never used.

Then in February, more documents showed Redford was using the government plane to fly around her 12-year-old daughter Sarah, along with Sarah’s friends. Thursday’s auditor general report is expected to characterize her daughter’s company on government trips as a “personal benefit” to Redford.

On Wednesday, Redford admitted “mistakes had been made along the way,” but did not elaborate on what she thought those mistakes had been.

“In hindsight, there were many things I would have done differently,” Redford wrote. “That said, I accept responsibility for all the decisions I have made.”

As the province’s first female premier, Redford promised supporters — including the province’s teachers, nurses and other union leaders — a “fresh start.” Poverty would be eradicated, social spending boosted and more investments would be made in education, Redford said during her 2012 campaign.

On Wednesday, Redford acknowledged many of those promises were still outstanding. “I had hoped to have more time to do more of what I promised Albertans,” she wrote.

“There were many issues we could tackle quickly — a new social policy framework, equality rights, better funding for mental health, disaster responses in the north and south, funding for teachers, Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, a single regulator and sustainable energy development, a more rational royalty framework, and opening new trade offices.”

Despite this, Redford said Wednesday, “I truly believe we made a difference.”

With her resignation, the former premier is eligible for $179,000 in severance pay. On Wednesday, Redford followed through on an earlier 2012 campaign promise, saying she would refuse to accept the money.